Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Chateau Marmont, Elle Fanning, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Dorff, Virgin Suicides
SOMEWHERE
Actor Johnny Marco is convalescing after a minor injury at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont hotel. He leads an empty life of watching pole dancers, picking up women, and sleepwalking through press conferences. But his listless state is interrupted when Cleo, his daughter from a broken-down relationship, comes to stay with him.
Like Director (and Screenwriter) Sofia Coppola’s previous films (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation), there is a daddy-daughter, young-girls-trying-to-find-their-place in the world, theme to this story. And like these previous films, this is a well-made, gently paced and slyly witty film whose direction makes it original and truthful. This film evokes in us the feeling of ennui, with every frame, conversation, setting and its sound, which is the intent. Stephen Dorff as Johnny Marco, fills this inherently lazy man with a sad charm. Elle Fanning as his daughter is equally able – she’s upbeat without being irritating.
The only thing I would have changed in this film is the ending. However, ultimately it’s worth watching. Like Coppola’s other films, this is an understated, languid film that if you give into its pace, charms, and soundtrack, you’ll find yourself happily rewarded.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: English film, Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Mike Leigh, Ruth Sheen
Gerri, a therapist, and Tom, a geologist, are happily married, but mildly concerned that their lawyer son is single. They don’t quite realise, either, how Mary, a fragile work colleague of Gerri’s, has come to depend on the couples’ friendship, and over the course of a year and Sunday gatherings, Mary makes a faux pas that puts a strain on the relationship.
The concept of Sunday afternoons in different seasons, focusing on a happy, middle-aged couple and their friends and relations, does not seem to suggest that there’s much happening. Watching a twee film about ‘cuppas’ in the garden after sessions at the allotment, with surface dialogue that’s all about trivia, seems more like TV fodder, but this film is good, even as its also as quintessentially English as it gets. Director Mike Leigh’s method here, as with most of his films, is that it’s a sitcom set-up in a drably realistic world, using trivial dialogue and embarrassment to dig deep into the psyche: that is to say, every tiny incident, spoken line, or look, registers. Lee also always uses very good English actors, who look like the English folks you see living next door to you in the UK – real people.
This film’s theme of loneliness, isolation and regret are all profound, as is its warmth.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Planes, road movie, Robert Downey Jr, Trains and Automobiles, Zach Galifianakis
Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) is trying to get home to his expectant wife. However, his efforts to get back are pitched into chaos when he crosses paths with wannabe actor Ethan (Zach Galifianakis).
The circumstances and events in this road movie are bizarre encounters, complete tribulations, and vehicular mayhem. DUE DATE aspires to be an edgier, darker, more of an odd-couple-on-a-road-trip film than the very similar PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, however one can’t help but to remember how great this earlier film and its actors (John Candy, Steve Martin) really were in the face of this comparison. DUE DATE achieves it’s ‘darker’ side and edgier side in this reviewers opinion, only because it is crueller and meaner, not because its funnier or politically incorrect.
For every funny moment, and there are a few, there are some downright unsettling ones, too, such as when Peter punches a small child, spits in Sonny’s face, or mocks a disabled veteran. Most of the humour is rude and silly, such as when Ethan and his bulldog Sonny simultaneously masturbate.
One can’t help but think that Downey Jr. was after a bit of ‘dosh’ in order to make this film or he wouldn’t have touched it with a ten-foot barge pole. That said, this is a film that won’t make you lament the two hours and price of a cinema ticket you’ve spent if you watch it on DVD, or, best yet, on TV at some point…
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Francois Cluzet, French thriller, Guillaume Canet, Harlan Coben, Kristin Scott Thomas
The police re-open the investigation into the murder of Dr. Beck’s wife eight years earlier and new evidence puts him under suspicion. He must prove his innocence at the same time that he’s corresponding with a mysterious emailer who implies his wife is still alive, and also fending off dodgy killers.
Based on Harlan Coben’s bestselling book, the film is instantly engaging and suspenseful as it twists-and-turns throughout. You share in our hero’s grief even as you’re perpetually expecting his wife to reappear. And you feel dread as he evades cops who think he’s guilty as well as some scary criminals.
Francois Cluzet (Dr. Beck) is great as the everyman under pressure. The entire cast is good, which is evidence of a capable director (Guillaume Canet), and Kristin Scott Thomas sexily shows off her French. Eccentric character touches – the unlikely source of help, the OCD cop, the best friend, and the strange female killer – give the film a sense of humour and humanity.
While the book takes place in the USA, and the soundtrack includes Jeff Buckley and U2, the film is very French in its setting, talent, aesthetic, and the subtext that money corrupts. This is an absolutely gripping thriller.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart, Francois Ozon, French mystery, Isabelle Huppert
1950’s France, in an isolated mansion in the countryside, a family gathers for the holidays. But what should be a glamorous social affair becomes a murder mystery when the beloved patriarch is discovered dead. It can only be one of eight females closest to him, but which one? The household is turned upside down and rivalries are exacerbated as the women begin to reveal unexpected intentions — sexual, murderous, dishonest, and perverse – through musical interludes.
Not generally inclined to musicals, I found watching each of these stars sing her particular story in her unique way is surprisingly delightful. While it’s arguable that the characters are stereotypical – the matriarch, the spinster, the femme fatale, and the sexy chambermaid – as the plot thickens, the veneer cracks and we see into the psyche of the female species. In this instance, played by a few of the greatest French film actresses of all time, such as Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert.
Directed by Francois Ozon, the film is shot like a sumptuous, 1950’s Technicolor melodrama, and aesthetically it’s gorgeous. This is a light-hearted and droll film.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovitch, Morgan Freeman
Lonely and bored retiree Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) wants excitement, but a band of assassins who attack his home isn’t what he had in mind. Having a past with the CIA, he gets a few of his ex-cohorts together, all of them designated by ‘the powers that be’ as ‘Retired: Extremely Dangerous.’
It’s a scenic trip to collect a few of the old group, starting out with a visit to Joe (Morgan Freeman) in a New Orleans retirement home and Marvin (John Malkovich) in the Florida Everglades. Then they collect Victoria (Helen Mirren) who’s running a B & B. Age hasn’t drained their skills of survival.
RED is a comic thriller, adapted from a darker graphic novel. Fans of the comics will find this film lighter and likable. Willis is still playing the sardonic, wisecracking, good-at-killing guy, but it works well. In fact, it’s the charismatic cast that keeps the ball rolling as well as the fact that they, and the movie in general, do not take themselves seriously. A surprisingly entertaining and humorous film.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Anton Corbijn, existential film, film review, George Clooney, Joy Division
An assassin (George Clooney) hides out in Italy for one last assignment. While there, he forms a friendship with a local priest and has an affair with a beauty who also happens to be a prostitute.
Acclaimed-photographer-turned-film director Anton Corbijn’s second feature tries to be existential. The questions the film attempts to ask are: is it safe to feel? Can love redeem a life full of regret? Has it been worth it? Like Corbijn’s debut film about Ian Curtis of Joy Division (Control) it’s also about a lost soul. While these themes are suggested primarily in the priests dialogue, it seems forced when these themes are only supported by moody looks from George and his physical isolation. The slow, meditative manner in which the film is shot is appreciated in the face of most modern films being frenetic, but this pace, combined with the aforementioned lack of a compelling story and script, leaves one thinking that to see it on DVD, or better yet on television, would be a better choice than spending the money for a cinema ticket.
What can be said of this film is that it has beautiful scenery.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Billy Wilder, El Coronado, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis
Two struggling musicians witness a murder and try to find a way out of the city before they’re found and killed by the mob. The only job going is one in an all-girl band, so they disguise themselves as women. In addition to the trouble of being men in hiding, further complications occur when one falls for another member of the band and the other has a rich suitor who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
This film is most noted for its director, the great Billy Wilder (The Apartment, One, Two, Three, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard) and its cast, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and the iconic Marilyn Monroe.
Fun to watch on a big screen, this is a good choice for a weekend matinee.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher, Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Sean Parker
Harvard university student Mark Zuckerberg sets up a social networking site called ‘The Facebook’, which basically becomes an overnight success and makes Zuckerberg the youngest billionaire in modern times. Meanwhile, a trio of well-off jocks who claim he stole their idea pursue Zuckerberg in court.
Zuckerberg is played by actor Jesse Eisenberg who is amazing as an emotionally isolated, social-climbing outsider who’s also a genius. Justin Timberlake plays Napster founder Sean Parker with seductive style, taking Zuckerberg from amateur to pro.
Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven) helms with a restrained and controlled hand that keeps cohesive this tense story of five individuals ironically torn apart by the biggest social networking site the world has ever seen. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (West Wing and A Few Good Men) writes dialogue that is fast and intelligent. And finally, the acting, particularly by Eisenberg and Timberlake, is great. A suspenseful, interesting and relevant film.
Filed under: Published film reviews | Tags: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Paris, Tim Burton, Venice
The girlfriend of international fugitive Alexander Pearce, Elise (Angelina Jolie) picks up a tourist named Frank (Johnny Depp) on a train from Paris to Venice. Their plan is to persuade the police that Frank is Alexander, but then the ‘doppelganger’ becomes the target for a scary gangster.
Jolie and Depp have spent much of their careers playing roles in which they are dowdy, eccentric, neurotic, or freakish, so it’s forgivable that they’d want to take on a project that shows off their good looks before doing another ‘serious’ film or goofy Tim Burton movie. But this film doesn’t ‘sizzle’, either in action, dialogue, or through benefit of a good chemistry between Jolie and Depp. And, while there are twists and turns, reversals and revelations, there is little to keep one engaged in this film.
This film is for those who simply want to look at one or the other actor in all of their charisma and beauty, or for those who are devotees of these actors’ work. For the rest of us expecting more, you’ll be disappointed.
Victoria Jelinek 